2013-01-21 - Experiments flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
Laura has been gone for roughly 72 hours. In that time, she's been heading out of the city, looping around the suburbs, and is now far into the Adirondacks, the mountains at the north end of the Appalachians, into the eastern side of New York State. She's been going nonstop for roughly the last two days, trying to run away from her demons and her own sense of failure, and confusion. After searching for Laura for over a day inside New York City, Fantomex has found nothing. He ends up calling in for reinforcements; he calls Kitty. Only three hours later, a moping and very bored Fantomex gets a call with Laura's location - in BFE. Obviously, Jean-Phillipe is far from pleased. Nature is not his thing. Still, he takes E.V.A. to the round about location of where Laura was spotted via satellites, and lands. He descends the stairs, and sends E.V.A. back into the sky to search for Laura with a bird's eye view. He on the other hand is on foot, as he starts to spread out to search for her. Tracking is certainly not his strong point, and he grumbles to himself in French a whole bunch. After searching for Laura for over a day inside New York City, Fantomex has found nothing. He ends up calling in for reinforcements; he calls Kitty. Only three hours later, a moping and very bored Fantomex gets a call with Laura's location - in BFE. Obviously, Jean-Phillipe is far from pleased. Nature is not his thing. Still, he takes E.V.A. to the round about location of where Laura was spotted via satallites, and lands. He decends the stairs, and sends E.V.A. back into the sky to search for Laura with a bird's eye view. He on the other hand is on foot, as he starts to spread out to search for her. Tracking is certainly not his strong point, and he grumbles to himself in French a whole bunch. She's track-able over on the ground. She's not eaten, slept, or bathed in two days, but for the moment she seems to have stopped running. She's leaning over against a tree, taking some cover from the change in weather, and seems to be meditating for a few minutes as she hears the sound of the EVA flying. E.V.A. is only making noise to try and draw Laura out, as is Fantomex really. Because he even resorts to, "Laura! Stabbity fille! Laura!" He is silent for a few as he moves to the top of a small hill before calling out some more. The snowball falls much short, but E.V.A. becomes silent and sends a message to Fantomex of where the snowball came from. Fantomex starts to run, much of the so-called snow here becoming mush. He leaps into the air, and lands on a branch, shaking bits of snow down, before he leaps to another branch. He is almost to the general location, his blue eyes searching out for his target. It is only Fantomex's lightning reflexes that saves him from a head wound. His sword actually swishes out and slices the ball in half, sending the split halves flinging apart and wildly. But...he then slips, and lets out a, "Baiser!" The sword goes half flying as he then lands hard on some mushy snow, some mud splattering on his very white clothing. The landing was not light either, but all he does is grunt a bit at the impact as the air is knocked out of him before he gets right back up. "Laura," growling her name with annoyance and warning. He is shaking his trench coat in horror and displeasure. "I....am DIRTY!" He is going Frenchman dramatic right now. As he lands, the disturbance of his landing on the floor and general agitation would then have a bunch of partially frozen snow and ice up in one of the trees about splattering down over towards him if not properly evaded, which was well over within his means to do so. Laura glanced over at him, and spoke one word, a bit of.. resignation in it. "Why?" Fantomex actually does let it fall on him, but only on his back to slide down wetly and help clean off his trenchcoat a bit. He then shakes his trench coat out again as he walks toward Laura. "Why what?" He still sounds annoyed, searching for his sword, and picking it up on his way toward Laura. Laura shrugs over at Fantomex, and takes a breath, centering herself, "Why.." Everything that happened. Why did she lose control? Why did she go along? Why did Alex blast her? So many things whirling about in her mind now. Fantomex tilts his head slightly. He does not know the details, but neither does he need to. He merely sighs dramatically at first, wooshing his sword through the hair to clean it of snow and wetness, before he slides it home. "Why indeed." He then walks toward Laura, stopping only about a foot and half from her to stare into her eyes. "Why indeed. Do you think, you are the only one that fights the darkness inside? A darkness that strives to ruin everything you have learned to appreciate or hold dear? Why indeed do any of us have to suffer this? When will we lose control again?" Fantomex then throws his white gloved hands into the air, "Pourquoi, en effet!" Jean-Phillipe then looks back at you, "Because, life is not fair. So, you do what you can to lighten the darkness, and appreciate allies that can forgive you. And most importantly, you come /home/ Laura, where you belong," his blue eyes narrowing slightly. "Where you are /needed/." Jean-Phillipe offers a wet, white gloved hand toward Laura. "I do not have all the answers Laura, but I do know this. They /need/ people like us. They may not always understand us, and sometimes they may be afraid of the darkness that hides within us. Yet, they need us now more than ever, as the darkness grows deeper and its fingers reach all the wider." He then sighs softly then. "There are times when we need to stay our deadly edges and show restraint. But there will also be times, when losing to the darkness is what is needed to save the future. Take that part of yourself and learn to wield it as a weapon, do not feel shamed of it. I will do what I can to help you learn how to control it, and so will Emma." Alright, so Jean-Phillipe lied, he told Emma and not Jean. "You are not as alone as you may think." There is a look in her eyes. A look of unsureness then. What does he know of the darkness? But, as ever, Laura has never been able to pierce the veil of Fantomex. He only lets others read him when he wishes to, and it's as much a show as anything else. So, she cannot trust his eyes, his words, or his mannerisms. But.. There is a shake of her head, a warring as her long, tasseled hair flicks over and she sighs softly. She does not cry, but the mannerisms are there. As if wishing she had the capacity to then. She nods up at him dimly and mouths softly, "Thank you." Her fingers brushing over her locket. A nod at that, "You are very welcome Stabbity fille." Jean-Phillipe then smiles beneath the mask and moves his hand to take one of yours within in. "Let us go home. Scott was pacing with your absence. I have no idea how he frets over you so much, when he finds Logan so horrifying." He starts to lead Laura toward a clearing then, so E.V.A. can pick them up. She is waiting for them. "So...snow balls?" He is sounding amused now that he isn't so angry over getting dirty. "You are adorable at times after all." And that was likely soooo /not/ Laura's goal. There is a shrug, "It was the nearest available thing that could be launched that was relatively aerodynamic and also would not inflict injury upon if struck." As opposed to a rock, which might have hurt if she had hit, or a branch, which would not be particularly accurate if thrown. At the very least, that's her excuse, and she's sticking to it. She follows after him. Jean-Phillipe lets go of Laura's hand before they board E.V.A., not quite that friendly or touchy to keep it up for very long. He heads up the steps that have formed, two chairs have formed within E.V.A. "I think I get your train of thought. You wished to express your annoyance with me, but did not wish any real ill harm, duly noted." He chuckles then. He removes his trench coat, laying it out across E.V.A.'s floor, dirty side up as he sits down in a chair. "In either case, Alex wishes you to see someone to 'talk out your issues'," and he rolls his eyes at that. "I told Emma, because I thought that would be easier on you, and you would get released for active duty quicker." Jean-Phillipe is then silent a moment as he motions you to take a seat so E.V.A. can close her door and lift off. "I suppose this is where I am supposed to say, 'do you want to talk about it'?" He shrugs at that! Apparently this is as new to him as it is for Laura. Laura shrugs her shoulders over at Jean-Phillipe, and shrugs, "I do not know. The general social interaction training I was given did not include proper emotional attachment for purposes other than manipulation. At this stage, I would only bring such a thing up if I was attempting to gather information out of someone via faux interaction for the purposes of manipulation." Honest. "Merde. You are as bad as me," Jean-Phillipe states. "I just like to pretend I am semi-normal." He taps one booted toe at that a couple of times. "I lied to Alex for the first time. An outright lie. I agreed I would tell Jean and hook you up with sessions with her, but instead I told Emma. I did not tell him I disagreed that you should be taken out of the field." He shrugs at that. "I suppose, this is where I should confess to him and apologize." He may not actually do that however even if he will get caught in his lie sooner or later when Alex notices. "Still, I trust him than any other, and I honestly like him. I have used him for my own benefit, but I also find myself doing things outside the norm to please him." Jean-Phillipe chuckles beneath his mask. "If I can slowly learn the meaning of friendship, you can as well Laura. You have experienced emotional attachment before," and Jean-Phillipe points toward your locket. "Alex is my first real emotional attachment. I try to take better care of my students, because it would please him. I try to act more heroic than I am, so Alex will not be disappointed. I do not speak out in mocking anger at times, because I am wary of what Alex will think of me." Jean-Phillipe speaks matter-of-factually as if this isn't a big deal, when it really is. "You will know when you have secured a new emotional attachment if you keep your eyes open and carefully observe your actions. I believe honestly that you have already started. Their opinion matters to you, otherwise you would have run when you believed you did something to displease Alex. Without emotional attachment, you would merely take advantage of their resources and would feel no remorse or fear of consequences from your actions." There was a cock of her head over then as she processed what you were saying, and she sighed, "Why Emma then, as opposed to Jean?" She does not inquire about the lie, merely the reasoning for it then and why you felt such a subterfuge was served. What was the benefit of it, in her mind, of lying to him as versus that you felt Emma was the better option over Jean then. She rests her hands over in her lap, looking up at you. If she were someone else, she might make a comment over about 'your boytoy', but she seems aware enough that such interest is not present. And you like Alex for reasons other than romantic. She nods over at him, "I understand." She doesn't say anything more than that. She will trust you, and will not break that trust you have given her. Such words are unspoken. She sighs softly, "I do not know if I will ever reach there." She has too many unsureties. Too many within herself. "Because Emma is more jaded, more willing to work with you to manipulate your mind if you so request to control your own rage. She will also release you faster for active duty than Jean likely would." Jean-Phillipe then studies Laura. "You have very closed eyes. You have more potential than me at so-called normalcy, and yet you seem to not see it. Until Alex, I believed I had the complete inability to feel emotional attachments, and merely accepted it as a side-effect of what I am." What, not who? "However, due to how logical my mind works, I recognize my actions for what they are, without biasedness." Jean-Phillipe hrms quietly. "You have desires, do you not? And I do not mean sexual," he says with a wave of one gloved hand. "I mean of human contact, particularly with your mother. You seem to care the locket gifted to you as if you were a fabled knight carrying a holy grail." She picks that small bit up. But also recognizes that such things are not to be addressed now. She goes on softly, "I understand." She sighs softly, "And I do not know." Whether she has desires. Or whether she has spent so long being trained at them she has merely learned to ape and mirror them, to repeat them around others as if they are second nature, ingrained but not understood. And Jean-Phillipe appears amused, "You are so human...the way you self-doubt and question yourself constantly. It is fascinating to see someone so strong, and yet so fragile. I eagerly await to see what type of woman you become, X-23." He suspects he knows what kind, but who knows what outside influences may arrive in the meantime. Laura cocks her head over at Fantomex, and nods softly. The unspoken bit on her own end, the fading words is she does not think she will last that long.